Thursday, March 12, 2009

As some of you know, I am a wolf enthusiast. This link tells a little about my Gray Wolf, Baby. who lived with me for 13 years and who still owns a large piece of my heart. So I am extremely upset that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has just approved the Bush Administration’s plan to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Idaho and Montana ~ a decision that could lead to the deaths of nearly 1,000 wolves, including those in the western Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

Delisting wolves is contingent upon two things that have not yet been achieved: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plan must be based on current, credible science that ensures a healthy, sustainable and well-connected wolf population level. All of the states in the delisting area must have wolf management requisitions that provide for such a sustainable wolf population after Federal protections are lifted.

Salazar's decision fails to adequately address biological concerns about the lack of genetic exchange among wolf populations in the Northern Rockies. These concerns led a Federal court to overturn the same delisting rule late last year when the Bush Administration issued it. This decision also fails to address concerns with Idaho's state wolf management plan and regulations that undermine the goal of a sustainable wolf population by killing massive numbers of wolves.

If this dismays you as it does me, please make your voice heard.

Call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 1-800-344-9453, select option "3" for "endangered species" and hit "O" to speak with the operator. Once you are connected, deliver this simple message:

I am calling to express my extreme disappointment in Interior Secretary Salazar’s decision to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies states of Idaho and Montana.If his decision is allowed to stand, nearly two-thirds of the wolves in the Northern Rockies could be killed. I strongly urge Secretary Salazar to stop the implementation of this awful rule and reconsider his approach to wolf conservation in the Northern Rockies.

I added that when we elected President Obama, we expected broad-spectrum change. Secretary Salazar is implementing a discredited Bush Administration policy, so I hope that President Obama will step in and urge him to reverse his decision which violates the Endangered Species Act and allows more than 1,000 out of the roughly 1,500 wolves in the region to be killed.

Wolves are not only highly intelligent, magical animals, but an extremely important part of our ecosystem. They cannot speak for themselves, so I hope that as many of you as possible will take the time to speak for them, and for all of us who share the natural world. I had to wait 13 minutes to speak to someone who was polite but clearly bored. Still, they are required to log all messages they receive so I am hopeful that if enough people call, Secretary Salazar will reverse this brutal policy.

Thank you for motivating me. You know, I grew up in central Montana, and so all Yellowstone Park issues were the first politically-charged things to really hit me (such as killing bison who wander out of the park).

The irony in this is that not so many years ago your National Park Service shipped wolves from British Columbia into Yellowstone Park because there were so few left and the balance had been completely screwed. You have my respect for your stance and the wolf cub is gorgeous. Did you ever read Farley Mowatt's Never Cry Wolf? It was made into a not bad movie with Charles Martin Smith taking the Mowatt role.